S. HRG. 113–550 A STATUS UPDATE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF VOLUNTARY DO-NOT-TRACK STANDARDS HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 24, 2013 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE 93–065 PDF WASHINGTON : 2015 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Publishing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:57 Feb 19, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\93065.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia, Chairman BARBARA BOXER, California JOHN THUNE, South Dakota, Ranking BILL NELSON, Florida ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi MARIA CANTWELL, Washington ROY BLUNT, Missouri FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey MARCO RUBIO, Florida MARK PRYOR, Arkansas KELLY AYOTTE, New Hampshire CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri DEAN HELLER, Nevada AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota DAN COATS, Indiana MARK WARNER, Virginia TIM SCOTT, South Carolina MARK BEGICH, Alaska TED CRUZ, Texas RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut DEB FISCHER, Nebraska BRIAN SCHATZ, Hawaii RON JOHNSON, Wisconsin WILLIAM COWAN, Massachusetts ELLEN L. DONESKI, Staff Director JAMES REID, Deputy Staff Director JOHN WILLIAMS, General Counsel DAVID SCHWIETERT, Republican Staff Director NICK ROSSI, Republican Deputy Staff Director REBECCA SEIDEL, Republican General Counsel and Chief Investigator (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:57 Feb 19, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\93065.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on April 24, 2013 .............................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Rockefeller ........................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator Thune ................................................................................... 3 Statement of Senator McCaskill ............................................................................. 4 Statement of Senator Heller ................................................................................... 5 Statement of Senator Johnson ................................................................................ 6 Statement of Senator Blumenthal .......................................................................... 64 WITNESSES Harvey Anderson, Senior Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs, Mozilla . 6 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 8 Luigi Mastria, CIPP, CISSP, Managing Director, Digital Advertising Alliance 14 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 15 Justin Brookman, Director, Consumer Privacy, Center for Democracy & Tech- nology .................................................................................................................... 24 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 26 Adam Thierer, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center, George Mason Uni- versity ................................................................................................................... 33 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 35 APPENDIX Response to written questions submitted to Harvey Anderson by: Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV ............................................................................ 69 Hon. Barbara Boxer ......................................................................................... 69 Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg ............................................................................... 71 Hon. Amy Klobuchar ........................................................................................ 72 Hon. Brian Schatz ............................................................................................ 72 Hon. Ron Johnson ............................................................................................. 73 Response to written questions submitted to Luigi Mastria by: Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV ............................................................................ 74 Hon. Barbara Boxer ......................................................................................... 75 Hon. Ron Johnson ............................................................................................. 78 Response to written questions submitted to Justin Brookman by: Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV ............................................................................ 86 Hon. Barbara Boxer ......................................................................................... 88 Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg ............................................................................... 89 Hon. Amy Klobuchar ........................................................................................ 90 Hon. Brian Schatz ............................................................................................ 91 Hon. Ron Johnson ............................................................................................. 93 Response to written questions submitted to Adam Thierer by: Hon. Barbara Boxer ......................................................................................... 96 Hon. Frank R. Lautenberg ............................................................................... 97 Hon. Ron Johnson ............................................................................................. 97 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:57 Feb 19, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\93065.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:57 Feb 19, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\93065.TXT JACKIE A STATUS UPDATE ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF VOLUNTARY DO-NOT-TRACK STANDARDS WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2013 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:38 p.m., in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV, Chairman of the Committee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, U.S. SENATOR FROM WEST VIRGINIA The CHAIRMAN. All right. This hearing will come to order. In February 2012, the Digital Advertising Alliance pledged that the online advertising industry would honor Do-Not-Track requests made by consumers. That commitment was supposed to happen by the end of the year which is called 2012. We are past that time. What it was supposed to mean, what that statement was sup- posed to mean was that when consumers made it clear they did not want advertisers to collect information about their Internet activi- ties, the advertisers would respect their wishes. It is now April 2013, and consumers are still waiting for these Do-Not-Track standards. Advertising folks are continuing to ignore Do-Not-Track headers and consumers’ requests for privacy. There is a broad feeling that the advertisers, brokers, et cetera, data brokers, are just dragging their feet, and I believe they are, and I believe they are doing it purposely. I personally have long expressed skepticism about the ability or the willingness of companies to regulate themselves on behalf of consumers when it affects their bottom line. It is just the way I am made. It is my experience. And my service in West Virginia makes me have that—and my service on this committee really makes me feel very strongly about that. And that is why for the past two Congresses, I have introduced legislation that would create meaningful Do-Not-Track standards for consumers. I do not believe that companies with business mod- els based upon the collection and monetization of personal informa- tion will voluntarily stop these practices if it negatively impacts their profit margins. I just think that is the way corporations, with obviously a number of exceptions, are run. They are there to make money. And consumers, particularly when you get something like the Internet, which everybody wants, worships, and loves, that is even more so. (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:57 Feb 19, 2015 Jkt 075679 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\93065.TXT JACKIE 2 Having said that and disclosed what is a genuinely troublesome feeling that I have about the nature of corporations with a chance to make money, particularly when people don’t know what they are doing, in spite of that, I want to be open-minded today. I want to do my best, Senator Thune, to be open-minded. And I want to hear all sides on the matters at hand. For months, industry stakeholders, consumer groups, academics, and other interested parties have been in negotiation with the World Wide Web Consortium, known as W3C, attempting to reach an agreement on voluntary Do-Not-Track standards. But con- flicting reports about W3C negotiations continue to surface. On one side, I hear that online advertising industry is delib- erately dragging its feet, moving the goal posts, and refusing to stop collection practices that undermine the very essence of a meaningful Do-Not-Track standard. On the other side, I hear two software developers, in particular Microsoft and Mozilla—which I know are not necessarily popular with